SOUTH KOREA
Exports, inflation down
The country’s exports dropped 1.5 percent year-on-year to US$44.74 billion last month, largely as a result of the three-day Chuseok (Thanksgiving) holiday, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said yesterday. The trade surplus actually widened to US$3.71 billion, up from US$3.07 a year earlier, as imports fell 3.6 percent on-year to US$41.03 billion. Meanwhile, consumer prices grew at their slowest pace for 14 years last month, thanks to falls in farming costs, Statistics Korea said. The consumer price index rose 0.8 percent on-year, compared with a 1.3 percent gain in August.
BRAZIL
GDP forecast cut to 2.5%
The central bank on Monday trimmed its GDP growth forecast for this year for Latin America’s leading economy from 2.7 to 2.5 percent. In its monthly report, the bank said the GDP growth in the second quarter had come in at 1.5 percent — slightly above forecasters’ expectations — while adding it expected a strong showing in the fourth quarter. The Bank added it saw consumer demand would continue on an upward path — albeit at a more “moderate” rate amid strong investment and exports after falls in the real-dollar rate.
FRANCE
Jobseeker number revised
The Ministry of Labor on Monday cut in half the number of jobseekers it said had left the unemployment rolls in August, blaming a “malfunction” with a mobile phone company. The ministry announced last week that the number of registered jobseekers fell in August for the first time in more than two years, dropping by 50,000 to 3.23 million. However, in a fresh statement on Monday, the ministry said that after an investigation, it was revising the figure and the number of jobseekers had fallen by only between 22,000 and 29,000.
BANKING
Wells Fargo settles claim
Wells Fargo bank said it will pay US$869 million to Freddie Mac to settle claims of potential fraud in home loans it sold to the US government-controlled mortgage company. In a short statement issued on Monday night, the California-based bank said the agreement will allow it to substantially resolve liabilities on home loans it sold to Freddie Mac before 2009 and the emergence of the financial crisis.
COMPUTER GAMES
Ubisoft expands in Montreal
Video game maker Ubisoft announced on Monday the expansion of its Montreal operations with a US$373 million investment in online gaming and motion capture technologies, expected to create 500 new jobs. The earmarked monies will be spent and new staff will be hired over the coming seven years. The Paris-based company behind such video game hits as Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell said it expects to employ up to 3,500 people at its Montreal studio by 2020 — nearly half of its global production workforce in 29 countries.
PETROLEUM
Pacific Rubiales to buy firm
Canadian oil company Pacific Rubiales on Monday said it is acquiring the local firm Petrominerales for about C$1.6 billion (US$1.55 billion). The transaction is expected to be completed late next month. Pacific Rubiales is the largest private oil company operating in Colombia. Like Petrominerales, Pacific Rubiales operates in Peru and Brazil. The Canadian company is acquiring the Colombian firm’s estimated C$640 million in debt.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS